Fringe Right Family Research Council Condemns Boy Scouts’ Policy Change

Fear, Uncertainty, Confusion and Dread [FUCD]…the hallmark of the right, folks who want to affect policy by fear rather than by facts. A group who would continue the hate and bigotry that so many on the right have shown as they fight equal rights for gays.

Today, after hearing the Boy Scouts of America’s announcement that it will change its policy, no longer directing that policy against gays from the National Council, Tony Perkins, head of the fringe conservative Family Research Council came out with a statement threatening the looming specter of pedophilia.

“The mission of the Boy Scouts is ‘to instill values in young people’ and ‘prepare them to make ethical choices,’ and the Scout’s oath includes a pledge ‘to do my duty to God’ and keep himself ‘morally straight.’ It is entirely reasonable and not at all unusual for those passages to be interpreted as requiring abstinence from homosexual conduct.”

That interpretation is only valid if, and it is a rather large IF one takes the position that gay activity is somehow morally aberrant or unethical. The reality is that it is neither of those things. Contrary to the fringe conservatives’ opinion, being gay is not a choice, it is just part of who they are, much like being straight is not a choice, it too is just a part of who they are. The position of the FRC is based on their personal religious beliefs, nothing more. And while they have every right to have their personal religious beliefs, they do not have the right to foist those bigoted, hateful beliefs on others.

The Family Research Council, which is severely lacking in “research”, has taken a hard-line stance against all things gay. In 2012 they announced that “repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy would encourage molestation of heterosexual service members and would lead to more American servicemen receiving unwelcome same-sex fellatio in their sleep.” This is part of a long line of reasoning from FRC spokesman Peter Sprigg suggesting that gay men are more likely to be sex offenders than anyone else.

This statement, along with the juxtaposition of the recent release of over 20,000 documents by the Boy Scouts of America which detail the number of inappropriate sexual contacts by heterosexual leaders against scouts from 1965 to 1985, strongly rebuke the hateful bigotry of the Family Research Council’s assertions.

The Boy Scouts of America are taking their first steps in joining society in the 21^st Century. It is too bad that the Family Research Council is stuck in the 13^th Century BCE.

McAllister is a life long liberal, environmentalist, Eagle Scout, and even gun owner – born in Harlan, Kentucky and has lived in Southern California, New York City and now resided in Lexington, Kentucky as a Systems Analyst. His grandfathers helped organize the coal fields of Eastern Kentucky and his father was a career long butcher and union representative.

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